Traditional Healing Herbs are gentle, nature‑centered ways of easing the symptoms of flus, colds,and digestive upsets, of working with chronic maladies, and of giving first aid for minor accidents such as cuts, bruises, and stings. For thousands of years, people have relied on plants for healing. Gathering summer plants for winter remedies is part of the year’s rhythm. There is a magic in the healing herbs of gardens. This magic consists not only of the plants’ reputed medicinal properties, but in the strong sense of connection and interdependence that comes from growing and collecting what you need to stay healthy. There’s a pleasant satisfaction, too, in preparing herbal remedies for your family, your friends, and yourself. When a child catches cold, one can open a bottle and take out a pill or brew a fragrant pot of peppermint‑yarrow‑elderflower tea. Each way of treating the cold has its advantages, but the sweet ceremony of brewing and offering tea may be as much of a remedy as the herbs themselves. Among the joys of summer can be growing and gathering beneficent garden herbs, drying them in big fragrant bunches for winter teas, and preparing a collection of herbal tinctures, syrups, oils, ointments, and cosmetics. In winter, we can use summer’s bounty to keep ourselves healthy.
Bushy evergreen biennial or perennial grows 2 feet tall, with small yellow and white daisy flowers in summer and fall. Adaptable plants can be grown in sun or part shade and many soil types. Reseeds freely.
Traditional Healing Uses: To reduce the frequency and severity of headaches (including migraines), as well as to relieve arthritis, rheumatism, fever, nerves, dizziness, and menstrual cramps. Leaf poultices have been applied externally to bruises, swelling and insect bites or stings.
Other Uses: Fresh or dried flowers can be added to cut bouquets, while plants may repel insects from the garden.
Harvest: Leaves can be harvested all year but are strongest just before plants flower. Best used fresh or frozen.
Preparation: Eat 1 to 4 leaves a day, alone or with bread and butter. For tea, pour 1 cup of boiling water on two teaspoons of fresh flowers and let steep for 10-15 minutes, 3 times a day.
Caution: Do not use during pregnancy. Fresh leaves may cause dermatitis or mouth blisters in some people.
